[JBensyl]

Ok so I am having a slight issue getting my 67 400 up and running on "cold" starts. Now I live in south florida so cold is relative, I am referring to the type of cold that implies I have not run my goat all week and now its time for the weekly run.

I have a 7027262 quadrajet installed with no divorced choke installed. When I start to fire it up it takes a good 20 seconds or so of cranking for it to start to fire. Then another 15 seconds or so of re-cranking to get it fired. Then I need to sit in the car revving it for a minute or 5 to get it to where it will idle on its own. Now once it has been started and run for a few minutes it fires up every time on the first crank or so.

I do not know much about my motor since I bought the car with what it has, it did have a holley on it when I got it but I changed over to the qjet soon after and have always had this issue of hard starts.

I am sure the no choke has to do with the long idle times but I am not 100% sure of that, so any help would be great.

Thanks

[dcrews]

No choke=long long cold starts.

You answered your own question

[Cliff R]

Those early Q-jets will leak at the bottom plugs as well. It may be draining down after shutting off the engine and sitting overnight, etc. This means it takes quite a bit of cranking just to fill the carb, then a lot of pumping of the accl to get fuel into the engine via the accl pump.

Recently I had 10 main castings on the bench for rebuilding, and pressure tested them. All had been JB welded at some point in their lives. 9 of them leaked, right thru the dabbed on epoxy. The only one not leaking was a newer casting as the plugs in them were a better design. We use and recomend to install screw in plugs coated with Marine Tex into the castings, it is a permanent repair.

We also recomend upgraded to the better accl pump assemblies for those older carburetors, with Viton seal and garter spring to keep it in contact with the bore......Cliff

[69Customs]

Most Pontiac engines are cold blooded! Mine does the same if sat for a week and I have an edelbrock with no plugs to leak. But somehow the gas evporates over a week of sitting. To check if that is your problem just peek down the carb before starting and kick the accelerator pump down. No squirt of gas= dry bowl.
You do need the divorce choke hooked up as that will give you fast idle for warm up.
These engines are nothing like fuel injection on start up procedures.
Follow Cliff's recommendations above.
Even in Florida it snows once in a while!

[carbking]

We get the question from 5~25 times a day, from customers with all types of carburetors.

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Tro...#Hardstartcold

If this is the problem, a properly installed electic pump will solve the problem.

Jon.

[JBensyl]

Thanks for all the help. I got my choke installed and adjusted and followed carbking's website advice for cold starting and it fired up within 5 secs and idled on its own.

Now I will need to make sure the fast idle is set correctly and the mixture....but those are for another day.

I told my wife that there is no more lonely feeling than being in a car that won't start.....but when you are in a classic muscle car its amplified by 100 times.

Thanks again for all the help. (Long live the Quadrajet)

[lust4speed]

You might have another problem other than the choke that you fixed. If the car sits for a month the fuel is going to have to be pumped up from the tank and this will take some cranking - maybe 6 to 8 seconds before the fuel hits the carb. At this point the engine should fire right off and continue to run. A cracked fuel hose either at the carb or back at the tank will definitely prolong the time until fuel gets up into the carb, and a weak mechanical fuel pump could also aggravate the problem. The tough part in knowing you have solved things is waiting a month between starting tests.

[poncho in a can]

I agree with the elactric pump idea. I live in nebraska and do not have a choke on my pontiac motor. It has a Q-jet and an electric pump. It starts EXTREMELY fast. Maybe 1-2 seconds. Yes I pump it a couple of times and have to feather the pedal a little when it gets down below 30 degrees, but nothing terrible. At first I did not like the idea but I tried it because my pontiac motor is in a 68 chevelle. I did not feel like reconfiguring my whole fuel system at the time. (due to the fact of the original routing of the chevy).
Now I think it is great in the cold cause you can pump and pump and always have a good shot of fuel. I let my car sit all winter (due to traction/salt issues). Just started it up 2 weeks ago. Reconnected the batt and pumped it twice. It started right up and it was 31 degrees outside. I guess if you could use the electric pump somehow temporarily just after long times of non use, it would be a good way to sort of prime the carb. If you could do this, even a small electric pump would suffice.